Tonality, modality and atonality

Interesting discussion, indeed, and never devolves to name calling :D

I'm a newbie here - I frequent a piano forum where at the slightest mention of modern music, discourse quickly degenerates to schoolyard fights. It appears that 'young composers' is in fact a more mature crowd :toothygrin:

Anyway, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents, if it's not been brought up already.

Everything is fine and dandy if one has absolute creative freedom, regardless of public reception. Thus whether the public is receptive, or whether the music is being performed/recorded at all is irrelevant. But this is not the case. Unfortunately, public reception (i.e. commercial factor) has the effect of promoting the 'popular' music and repressing the 'unpopular', whether on purpose or not. One may not question the validity of a composer's œvre, but he/she won't necessarily buy the CD/attend a concert/commission a work if musical tastes don't agree.

Another wrinkle is that public reception now doesn't necessarily seal the fate of the music in posterity. And for that I have a humorous video for you (taken from a Friends episode):

http://www.cygnusdei.com/friends.html

I usually compose tonal music... but then, every once in a while, I break into a whole-tone thing... but then again, I've only been composing for a few years and have a lot to learn. I would love to learn to compose modal music, though.